Chapter 164: Sky Screen Live Streaming System (39)

"Go, go, go! Let's go home! We can chat slowly once we're home!"

The Wen Family Old House that Wen Dajiu inherited is located in the first row by the river.

Right next to the parking lot is a stone arch bridge; it is the third house counting from the bridgehead, with mulberry trees, peach trees, and loquat trees planted in front of and behind the house, making it very easy to recognize.

The courtyard is indeed very large, estimated at two hundred square meters, with five main rooms with white walls and black tiles facing south, and two side rooms built on both the east and west sides.

Passing through the courtyard and entering the central main room, the aunt and her two niece and nephew felt a wave of warmth.

"So warm!"

Both children said in unison.

【Is it really this warm inside a house in the countryside during winter? As soon as Little Marquis and the others entered the room, they started taking off their clothes.】

【Aunt's Wen Dajiu said the room is equipped with a Warm Air Pipe; what kind of thing is this?】

【The wealthy Wealthy Philanthropists in my town love to build Fire Kangs. Once winter arrives, after lighting the firewood and adding some charcoal, it can make the room warm. Unfortunately, charcoal is too expensive for poor families to afford. Sadly, firewood doesn't burn for long unless you stay up all night to watch it. Could it be that Aunt's Wen Dajiu also built a Fire Kang?】

The people of Daliang engaged in a heated discussion surrounding the spring-like indoor temperature shown on the Sky Screen.

Just like the world of the Sky Screen, Daliang has also entered the depths of winter.

The north is covered in ice and snow, and while the south is relatively better, most areas are also very cold, except for the relatively warmer coastal towns.

Moreover, unlike the dry cold of the north, the south has a damp cold that seeps into the marrow, causing the lower-class commoners, who cannot even satisfy their basic needs for food and clothing, to complain incessantly.

Although Xie Yang cannot see the barrage, she guesses it is more or less the case.

Even though she knows how Biogas Heating works, she pretends not to understand and asks a few more questions: "Dajiu, can you explain more about this Biogas Heating?"

"There's nothing I can't talk about!" Wen Dajiu laughs heartily, explains it to his niece, and adds at the end, "If you're interested, I'll take you to visit the Nongchang tomorrow."

Xie Yang can understand, but the Daliang People on the other side of the Sky Screen might not; if they could visit and learn on-site, that would be best.

She immediately agrees: "That's great, after hearing you talk so much about the Nongchang, I really want to go and see it for myself."

"No problem, I'll take you all tomorrow, and we can pick some strawberries while we're at it. The strawberry patch is very well-tended this year, and now is the perfect time to pick them."

Hearing about picking strawberries, Jinbao, who was originally being cuddled and kissed by her aunt-in-law as a "precious baby," claps her hands happily: "Great-uncle, Jinbao likes picking strawberries!"

Wen Dajiu grins from ear to ear: "Alright, alright, alright! Great-uncle will take you to pick them tomorrow!"

"Pick what?"

The door opens, and Wen Dajiu's younger brother and his wife walk in smiling, carrying baskets and wearing back-baskets.

They only knew their niece had arrived today after seeing the message Wen Dajiu posted in the family WeChat group, so they quickly gathered some vegetables to come over and have Hot Pot together.

First, they heap praise on Xie Ji and his sister, take turns hugging the two children, and then say to Xie Yang: "Yang Yang, eat Hot Pot at your Dajiu's place today, and come to my place tomorrow for steamed dishes."

"Right, your eldest aunt said in the group that she's treating us the day after tomorrow, and we're all going to the city to have your cousin's Warm Pot Banquet."

"Your eldest cousin has already booked the New Year's Eve dinner at the Jinbi Huihuang Grand Hotel in the city. Let's follow the trend too; we won't be busy at home this year, we'll go to the hotel for the Reunion Dinner!"

Xie Yang says with a smile: "Then I'll pick a day during the first lunar month to treat everyone to a meal!"

"No need for you to treat us, it's rare for you and the kids to come, just eat!"

"That won't do!" Xie Yang shakes her head, "I'm working and earning money too. If you don't let me treat you even once, then I'll take Jinbao and Linbao and run away tomorrow!"

Everyone laughs: "Fine, fine, fine, you can treat us once, but you're the youngest, let your cousins treat us first, and you can treat us last."

Everyone chats while eating Hot Pot.

The Hot Pot ingredients are all readily available at home—

The vegetables are either grown in their own private plot or bought at the internal Nongchang price;

The meat dishes are even richer—

They slaughtered the New Year's pig the day before yesterday, minced the leg meat to make meatballs, wrapped egg dumplings, and fried bean curd skin meat rolls, which are perfect for dipping in the Hot Pot;

Yesterday they slaughtered chickens, ducks, and geese; white-cut chicken, crispy skin duck, and braised goose—when guests arrive, they chop up a plate, which can be served as a cold dish or dipped in the Hot Pot;

There is also beef and mutton produced by the livestock area of the Nongchang, the best companions for Hot Pot.

When slaughtering before the New Year, the livestock farm was too busy and hired some local helpers. Both uncles went, and not only did they get an extra red envelope as a hardship fee, but they also got priority to buy their favorite cuts.

Cucumber strips, tenderloin, and chuck are the best parts for Hot Pot; after freezing, they are sliced into thin rolls by a slicer, which taste better than what is sold at Hot Pot restaurants outside.

Besides meat, there are Fish and Shrimp.

The Fish are raised in the village's collective rivers and lakes. Fish fry were released at the beginning of the year, and the harvest was collected at the end of the year. Every household was allocated two fat-headed fish weighing over ten catties, one Crucian Carp weighing eight or nine catties, and some Crucian Carp and Grass Carp were also distributed.

Besides fish, there are river shrimp, grass shrimp, river mussels, and field snails.

The fish slices for the Hot Pot tonight are Grass Carp slices, and the shrimp paste is made from minced grass shrimp meat.

The staple foods include hand-pulled noodles, homemade rice cakes, and sweet potato starch dried during the sweet potato harvest.

The younger uncle also brought a jar of Yangmei Wine: "This year is a bumper year for Yangmei. Your Dajiu asked someone to buy a few baskets of fresh Yangmei to soak himself. You should try it. Just a few sips, it won't make you drunk."

As for the two children, of course, it's fruit juice freshly squeezed from fruits bought at the Nongchang.

The Daliang People under the Sky Screen are stunned:

【As expected of the Heavenly Palace! Even the countryside is so wealthy! In our Daliang, only the families of princes and nobles could afford such a sumptuous feast, right?】

【Is a casual meal for guests in a rural farmhouse this sumptuous?】

【White Flour and meat dishes are one thing, but in the depths of winter, where do the vegetables and fruits come from?】

【How does the Heavenly Palace manage to have a continuous supply of fresh vegetables and fruits even after winter begins?】

【Along the way into the village, the farmland within sight is similar to our Daliang, all empty fields after the harvest; I didn't see any vegetable plots at all.】

【Aunt's two uncles mentioned the Nongchang several times; could it be grown in the Nongchang?】

【If only they could take us to see the Nongchang!】

【Aren't they going tomorrow?】

【Even if they go, they won't show Little Marquis and the others the secret recipe for growing fresh vegetables and fruits in the depths of winter, right?】

【And that gas that can make the room as warm as spring, how exactly is it formed? I wonder if going to the Nongchang tomorrow will give us the answer.】

【Isn't this also a secret recipe? Can outsiders be allowed to know?】

【That is true!】

【Sigh...】

Xiao Yanze's tall, slender figure stood in a corner of the Imperial Garden, his bright yellow imperial robe blending into the halo cast by the palace lanterns.

His gaze fell upon these few bullet comments, and the same confusion arose in his heart: would the people of the Heavenly Palace be generous enough to reveal their way of making money?

The next morning, when Xie Yang woke up, she heard a burst of crisp birdsong and only then remembered that she had arrived at her uncle's house yesterday, and had slept on the spacious heated brick bed in the east bedroom with her niece and nephew at night.

When she opened her eyes, her niece and nephew were already awake, kneeling on the bed and leaning against the window to look at the scenery outside.

"Auntie, when are we going to pick strawberries?"

"How about we go after eating breakfast?"

"Yay!"

Breakfast was chicken soup rice noodles made by the eldest aunt.

The chicken soup was the broth left over from steaming white-cut chicken, with two ladles of water added, along with chicken breast, ham, winter bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and black fungus to enhance the freshness and flavor, and finally a handful of Bok Choy just picked from the field, with the rice noodles added when it was almost ready.

The fresh and fragrant chicken soup rice noodles kept the aunt and her two niece and nephew silent as they ate.

The eldest aunt said happily, "Eat slowly, there is more in the pot if it's not enough."

"You must eat until you are full; if you don't eat your fill at breakfast, you won't have any energy for the day."

Wen Dajiu lifted the door curtain and walked in, a smile on his face.

He had gotten up early; not only had he already eaten breakfast, but he had also been to the Nongchang to tell the boss that he wanted to take his niece for a tour later.

The boss had readily agreed.

Generally, people who go to visit will buy at least a little bit of Nongchang produce to take with them when they leave; there is no reason not to earn money when it is right there.